Dara had been drifting in and out of sleep since Maric had knocked on the door, so he was a little more prepared to be awake when another knock came about an hour later.
Brayan stepped into the room, a tray of food in one hand and a lantern held up in the other. "Time to eat."
Bug was still deep in sleep, so Dara shook his shoulder gently until he woke. "Bug. Food."
Brayan set the tray and the lantern down on a small table and went to light the fireplace. "Mathers said you should both be fine with solids at this point, but there's some soup there as well. He doesn't think Bug is severely underweight enough for eating too much to put him at actual risk, but will likely throw up if he overdoes it so make sure he moderates himself."
Bug sat up and self consciously combed his hair back into order with his fingers. "Would you like to stay and eat with us, sir?"
"I've already eaten," Brayan said as he stood up from the now burning fire.
As soon as Brayan had left the room, Bug flopped down and let out a long sigh. "I feel he does not like me as much as I like him."
"I can't comment on comparative degrees, but I think he cares for you."
"Mm. Sometimes I feel like he does, and then he pushes me away again."
"Perhaps he's simply trying to be professional?"
Bug made a face. "I don't want professional. I want him."
"I know."
"It wouldn't be illegal for him to be with me now. That was the reason he gave for turning me down last time. Do you think if I offered myself to him again, he would accept?"
Dara hesitated. "That was also the reason he gave me for turning you down when he told me about it, though I'm not sure that was truly the only reason he abstained. You're fragile, Bug. He would hurt you."
"I have scarring. There'll always be pain. I'm willing to suffer it in the moment if he'll hold me in his arms afterwards."
"That's not how things should be, Bug."
"It's the only way they can be for me now."
Dara placed a hand on his shoulder. "No, Bug. Listen... I can fix the scarring. I think I can, anyway. But, if I do that for you, I want you to promise me that you won't let him hurt you. That if he does something that scares you or causes you pain, you will tell him and ask him to stop."
"You would do that for me?"
"I will, if you make me that promise."
Bug sat up, his head nodding rapidly. "I will. I promise."
"Do you swear it?" Dara asked, switching into Eulan.
Bug nodded again, more solemnly this time. "I swear it."
"Well, okay then," Dara said. "There's a slab of butter Brayan brought up with dinner that we could make do with, if you don't mind. I could ask for something more suitable, but..."
"Do you think the prince might disapprove of you doing this for me if he found out?"
"I don't know," Dara admitted. "He owns me, but I don't think either of us wants that to dictate how we conduct ourselves. Technically I shouldn't be offering to do this for you at all. I should be asking him if I may."
Bug dropped his gaze. "I wouldn't want to get you in trouble with him."
"No, it's not like that. And like I said, we don't want it to be like that. I'm not trying to go behind his back in doing this, but I do have to be a bit discrete because, well. It reflects poorly on him if others see me disregarding his authority."
"I think I understand."
"Good," Dara said as he got up to get the butter. He tapped his chin as he considered Bug and the bed. "I think face down with a cushion under your stomach would be the best for access while hopefully making you feel a bit less exposed. We can do it whichever way you'd like, though."
"No, that's fine," Bug murmured.
Dara brought the plate with the slab of butter on it over to the bed and sat down as Bug started taking off his pants. "This will take some time, unfortunately. Scar tissue is... difficult. If it gets to be too much, let me know. I have my own issues with things like this and Maric did this to me — for other reasons, of course — before he realised, and it was not a fun situation for either of us. So I understand."
"I think I'll be okay."
"But if you aren't..."
Bug nodded. "I'll make the same promise to you about this as you had me make for Brayan. I'll say something."
"I appreciate it," Dara said. "I'm happy to do this for you, but harming someone in that way is abhorrent to me."
"Should I...?" Bug asked, slipping his thumb under the band of the thin shorts he had been wearing under his pants.
"Yes, let's give this a go."
As Bug took off his shorts and got into position, face down with a pillow under his stomach, Dara greased his fingers up as best he could with the butter. He would have to be careful and very, very gentle. This hadn't felt great when Maric had done it to him, and that was without scar tissue making things more uncomfortable.
Dara took a deep breath in, let it out as a slow sigh, and leant forward. "Try to relax."
#
For the last half hour, Maric had been very slowly making his way through his drink and nibbling on a bowl of dried apricots. Brayan had gone upstairs to deliver food to Dara and Bug and then take a bath and Maric had been left here, alone, because when the prince sat alone people assumed he did not want to be disturbed.
Which was mostly true, honestly. Hudson's behaviour had shaken him. If someone had sat down next to him and tried to cheer him up, it only would have annoyed him.
But he was lonely.
Brayan's return was a welcome sight, but Maric didn't really want to talk to him either.
"Were they awake?" Maric asked as soon as Brayan sat across from him.
"They woke up when I brought the food in. I didn't think to check back in on them after I had my bath."
Maric nodded and stood. "I think I'm about done for the night either way. I'll check in on them on the way back to my room."
"I'm sure even if Dara is sleeping he won't mind if you wake him up and ask you to go with him, sir. He is your slave, after all."
"I'm quite sure he would tolerate that. I'm not convinced he would appreciate it."
"Mm," Brayan said.
That seemed to be the end of the conversation, so Maric headed upstairs.
He hesitated outside the door to the room Dara and Bug were in, hand up to knock. Last time he'd woken them. He couldn't hear any sounds from inside, so they might have finished eating and gone back to sleep already.
If they were sleeping, he didn't want to disrupt them. They needed their rest. Maric lowered his hand and quietly turned the knob instead and then peaked inside.
For a moment Maric simply didn't know what he was looking at, and then he very much did. Bug was laying face down on the bed, his rear exposed, and Dara had two fingers inside of him.
Maric wanted to march up to them and tear them apart and shout and, and... but he had enough sense to know that he would regret that. To know that, whatever was going on between Dara and Bug, his anger would only make the situation worse.
Maric slammed the door shut and headed for his room.
He had just opened the door when the door to the room Dara and Bug was in opened again and Dara stepped out. "Maric, wait. It's not—"
"No," Maric said flatly, stepped into his room, and slammed the door behind himself. Then he locked it, just in case the message hadn't been clear enough.
Maric went and sat on the edge of his bed and squeezed his eyes shut. He'd been jealous from the start, but he had thought he was being irrational, thought he was just being overly insecure about Dara being close to anyone else, but now...
Was this what Dara wanted? Someone more similar to himself? Someone timid and gentle and powerless enough that they would be sexually non-threatening? Had everything, once more, been a lie in order to pacify Maric?
But that made no sense, surely. Maric had given him every opportunity to live his life without any intimacy between them, and Dara had been clear that that wasn't what he wanted. But... that was before Bug joined them. Was it simply that he had now found someone he wanted more?
And what could Maric do about any of it? He was angry and surely that was justified, but the idea of punishing either of them for it didn't bring him any comfort. He could send one of them away and put an end to it, but should he?
Maybe, honestly. If Bug got caught having sex with a healer, he would be in trouble. It would be difficult to defend a slave from the consequences of that crime. Though, Maric was a prince. He could surely protect him if it came down to that...
Maric rubbed his hands over his eyes. He didn't know what to do.
#
Brayan was sitting downstairs, talking and drinking with his men, when suddenly Dara was at his side. He sent a glance towards Thayne who was standing next to the stairs and was supposed to be guarding them, and Thayne gave him a nod. He'd let Dara past.
"You're not supposed to be down here alone," Brayan told Dara.
Dara looked around the table full of Maric's men and then back at Brayan. "I'm not. Half the prince's guard is here."
"I meant—" Brayan shook his head. "Nevermind. You're right. It's fine. Do you need something?"
Dara hesitated. "I need you to speak to Maric for me. He walked in on me healing Bug and I think he may have misinterpreted what he saw."
Brayan frowned. "Healing him? Is he hurt?"
"No. Old scarring."
"Old scar— oh. Ohhh." Brayan gave a nod to his men to indicate that he was leaving and stood from his chair. "I can imagine how that would have looked."
"Rather like I was fingering him," Dara said quietly now that they were out of earshot of the others.
Brayan gave Thayne a nod and led Dara back up the stairs. "Why didn't you discuss it with Maric first? I know you have an unusual relationship with him, but you are his slave."
"I'm aware. This is entirely my fault and now Bug's scared and upset as well because he thinks Maric will punish him for this."
"Well..." Brayan shrugged.
Dara shot him a look. "He won't."
"No, of course. He's not an unreasonable man. I'll talk to him."
"Thank you," Dara said as he opened the door to his room.
Inside, Bug was curled up in a tight ball on the bed, his face buried in a pillow.
"Bug," Brayan said, and Bug's head lifted just enough to look at Brayan. "I understand what happened and I'll speak with Maric. You won't be punished."
"Thank you, sir," Bug murmured.
Brayan gave Dara a nod and then turned and headed towards Maric's room. He hoped what he had told Bug had been the truth.